Anno Domini 830, November-17
"Good, with that you will now be in charge of managing the production of the smithies. It is important that all production remains stable, since it is more efficient than producing in Crete, because there is no need to ship them by sea to the front. So follow the orders and we should have a good campaign next year." I said while beginning to properly organize the administration of the foederati governorships.
"At your orders, strategos." the Varangian said who knew how to speak and read Greek, brought from Crete to fulfill important administrative roles in the city.
Many of these Varangians had arrived from Crete, moving here, since education on the island had begun to become much more standardized and literacy had reached much higher levels. According to a report that Leo had sent, he had requested Lysander to make schooling mandatory after the harvest, so that all male inhabitants of the island would have to attend writing and reading classes.
This had led to there now being many people in Crete who could read and write after a year of intensive education of the population, so there was a large amount of available manpower that could be moved to work in administrative positions.
Since there were too many positions to fill that absolutely required people who spoke Greek, because documentation had to be completed in a way that was easy to work with.
Tax collectors, administrators, quartermasters, port officials, keeping public accounts and providing services in the new public buildings, since I had sent contracts to all the medical academies of the empire to attract physicians and begin expanding a health and administrative system that would be as efficient as possible.
In addition to laying the foundations of an organization for investigating expenses and activities, since something was very clear. This place and its administration were too large to rely only on trusted men, and we would probably have to accept Roman aristocrats. It was only a matter of time, and clearly those miserable men would do everything possible to acquire the maximum amount of wealth to fill their pockets, without caring much about what happened in the region as long as they were fine.
Above all, this organization had to be well hidden within the administrative branches, since if anyone heard that there was an organization that actively reviewed their expenses in search of corruption and that would monitor that they did not abuse their authority, that would create many problems in Constantinople. Although Theophilos had managed to eliminate the most corrupt ones, those who did not even try to hide it, there were still those who hid well within the system.
And that would be the main problem we would have, since at least if we have many scouts we would know when the next attack would come. Those are dangers that are always present, but never seen, so I had to gather here the men I trusted the most, mostly Varangians, and ensure they had an armed branch responsible for enforcing the laws.
Since we would surely have problems with the armed escorts of the aristocrats, so for several days, taking advantage of the winter and the accumulation of gold ingots being produced in the northern forge, I personally dedicated myself to creating the entire administrative system of the foederati governorship, based on the assembly system of the thing and the althing, since although they were more consultative bodies, that clearly made people much more patient when resolving matters.
Since in a way they had a voice, there were things among all cultural groups, even among the Franks, although most of their petitions were that they wanted to return home, but that was an indication that the system worked. Of course that request would never be fulfilled, since there was much to be done.
Irrigation canals, draining swamps, cutting forests, clearing rubble from ancient Roman constructions and rebuilding them to take advantage of strategic positions, starting extraction enterprises for minerals, since hundreds of prospectors had been hired to search for all the mineral wealth of the eastern part of the governorship, the construction of buildings, all of which demanded a large amount of labor, and I was not going to waste 35,000 men who were in condition to serve, since they were young men.
"Basil…" a voice said, and I immediately looked up.
"Brynhildr." I replied upon seeing her, wearing her embroidered clothes and her hair in braids, no longer being the Varangian warrior she pretended to be, but the daughter of one of the jarls, wearing brightly colored clothing, as well as gold and silver ornaments in her hair.
She walked with a wide smile until she stood beside me, watching me, until she took my hand, the one holding the quill, and looked me in the eyes.
"When are you going to let your beard grow. That would make you look much more handsome and manly." she said, running her other hand along my chin, which was completely shaved.
"I like it like this. I am used to it." I said, taking her hand from my face. "So tell me, what do I owe the fortune of having you here?" I said with a slight smile that I could barely contain.
"Well." she said slipping into my arms, sitting on my legs while playfully grabbing one of her braids. "My father wants to hold a banquet, since we are all going to be there. The grandfather, my uncles, cousins, everyone. So he wants you to be the guest of honor." Brynhildr said while holding my face in her hands as I held her by the waist.
"Of course. I do not see why I would refuse. We will all be there. Good Hakon, Sigurd, Hjalmar and all of Hakon's descendants, so even better." I replied with a smile.
Brynhildr moved closer and began to kiss me, placing her lips on mine, as I felt the warmth of her tongue as it slipped in, while our tongues intertwined.
While I held her firmly by the waist, I heard someone knocking on the door.
"Fuck…" I said looking toward the entrance while my hand rested on Brynhildr's toned abdomen, who had also turned with a frown upon hearing the knock. "What is it?" I added.
"A messenger from the basileus rhomaion has arrived, my strategos. He brings a personal message from the basileus and must deliver it as soon as possible." the voice of one of my hird outside replied.
"Let him pass. If it is from Theophilos it must be important." I said raising my voice while looking at Brynhildr, who stood up from my legs and left the room clearly annoyed by what had happened.
I stayed waiting for the messenger, since it had been a while since I had any information from Theophilos. Since I left Croatia was the last time I received anything from Constantinople.
Finally a messenger who looked exhausted, with his clothes wrinkled and covered in mud, appeared, with eyes that showed he had gone through a lot to get here.
"Greetings, messenger of the basileus rhomaion. What message do you bring for me?" I said respecting protocol.
"Strategos Basil… I ask your forgiveness for my presence… and for the delay of the message. To my misfortune heavy snowfalls covered some of the passes of the Carpathians, and reaching here on horseback was not easy… we had to check many passes to find one that was not covered in snow. The basileus rhomaion, long may he reign, has invited you to the imperial palace for a great celebration." the messenger said searching through his clothes for a letter.
"Oh… a celebration. What is the occasion?" I said intrigued.
"The reason is that the empire is going through a great time of economic prosperity. Taxes fill the coffers, good harvests, territorial conquests… so it is requested that everyone who has time attend the celebration. The basileus also asks that you consider whether you wish to hold a triumph for your conquests. The basileus approves such an event." the messenger said.
"Ah… of course, a triumph…" I said looking away for a moment, remembering that military celebration of parading through the streets of the city, which is more a waste of time than anything else.
"And this… the letter is only for your eyes. It must be burned afterward… I do not know what it contains, but with this I have completed my duty…" the messenger said placing the letter on my table and remaining expectant.
"When is the banquet?" I asked remembering that he said he was late.
"In 20 days… I ask your forgiveness for my delay… but it was not within my reach. All the roads I tried to take were blocked by snow." the messenger said lowering his head.
"20 days… I should be traveling as soon as possible then to be there on time. I will go down the Danube and arrive by sea… so I should arrive quickly… feel free to ask for a room, have water heated and be given access to the fortress stores, since I can see you have had a hard day… as has your entire escort." I said nodding to the messenger.
"Thank you, strategos Basil." the messenger said as he left the room while I began to open the letter.
"Hey Basil, what message did the messenger bring?" Sigurd said as he entered shortly after the messenger left.
"We have to go to the capital… banquet." I said taking out the emperor's message.
"Oh… great, last time I ate like six chickens… hopefully this time I can beat that record." Sigurd said quite pleased with the news. "What else?" he added when he saw I was reading something more.
"Huh…" I said as I read the content. "The basileus wants me to gather my men and prepare to go east… he wants me to lead my forces to Egypt… it seems the Abbasid succession war is about to end. There is already a winner who is just finishing cutting the heads of his relatives and crushing a few minor rebellions."
"But Egypt is still in rebellion and it would be the moment to attack… so he asks that I gather my men, take part in the triumph so as not to raise suspicion among the possible spies that must be in the capital and then travel by sea to Jerusalem, where an army is forming." I said crumpling the message and throwing it into the fire.
"He must be joking… we have the war with the Carolingians… we are winning here… why would we abandon the front we are about to finish. A couple more battles and we would surely have the terms the diplomat wants to negotiate." Sigurd said crossing his arms upon hearing the news.
"A truce of three years was agreed… and an exchange of prisoners… so there will be peace temporarily… so my time limit to conquer Egypt is three years…" I said standing up and beginning to walk with my hands behind my back while thinking about how to even carry out the mission I had been given.
"The heat was horrible… hopefully it is worth it and there is good loot… there were beautiful women last time." Sigurd said.
"I need to speak with Shimon and see how the espionage network is doing. There are many Copts in Egypt, so we could generate massive rebellions and try to recover the breadbasket of the empire. If we manage to do that we would have the richest province of the empire back, as well as the most populated. There must be several million people living there, so its recovery would be the step to have many troops ready for more campaigns and to populate more regions of the empire."
"So it makes perfect sense, since there will not be another opportunity… if the Abbasids recover, Egypt will be much harder to take." I said looking out the window of the fortress tower.
"Well… it sounds good… hopefully there will be a great battle like at Pliska and we can go to Valhalla once and for all… this is taking much longer than I expected." Sigurd said with a smile, giving me a strong pat on the back.
"I do not think it will be easy. The governor of Egypt must have tens of thousands of men, and I would not doubt that the Abbasids will try to attack if their civil war is about to end… so prepare your things and… inform your brothers. We travel to the capital, it is the exact moment for them to present themselves before the imperial court and perform the political show of converting to Christianity and all that… then they will return and we will continue the work." I said returning to my chair and beginning to sign the last things I had left.
"Good, I will inform my family." Sigurd said as he left the room.
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